MaryJo Marra-Hauser and Stephen Hauser
“Our bequest is a thank you to the incredible people at the Brigham who never gave up,” MaryJo says. “I am grateful every day. I could never thank them enough for the gifts they have given me—a full life, hope, and freedom.”
After battling lupus from a young age, MaryJo Marra-Hauser later had to cope with the kidney failure it caused. Through careful diet and daily exercise over many years, MaryJo did everything in her power to prepare for a transplant. However, she met several specialists who were less optimistic about her chances for a successful surgery. Some suggested she plan for lifelong dialysis. MaryJo and her husband, Stephen, refused to accept this fate.
MaryJo traveled from her Connecticut home in search of a caregiver who would be a partner in her fight for a transplant. Fortunately, she found nephrologist Martina McGrath, MD, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. With her healthy lifestyle choices and a supportive doctor in her corner, MaryJo kept her condition stable longer than expected. But in late 2017, cardiac complications landed her in the hospital. Though MaryJo recovered, the trauma left her kidneys severely weakened.
“When Dr. McGrath told me I needed to start dialysis, I could tell it broke her heart as much as mine,” says MaryJo, who endured 11 months of the lifesaving, but invasive, treatment. “Yet neither of us gave up on the hope that my transplant was coming.”
The Hausers are thankful those days are a distant memory: they recently celebrated one year since MaryJo received her new kidney at the Brigham. The couple appreciates the teamwork and contributions of the many renal and transplant caregivers who made MaryJo’s surgery possible—especially McGrath for championing her treatment goals and Stefan Tullius, MD, chief of Transplant Surgery, for advocating for and performing the surgery.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” says MaryJo. “Over the years, I had to become an advocate for myself when no one else would. To finally feel that my doctors were working for me and seeing me as part of the team, that meant the world to me. Without treating the patient as a valued member of the team, you can’t get very far.”
Grateful for her caregivers’ collaboration and can-do spirit, MaryJo and Stephen decided to include the Brigham in their estate plans. They anticipate their bequest will provide more than $250,000 to advance research, education and patient care in renal transplant medicine.
“Our bequest is a thank you to the incredible people at the Brigham who never gave up,” MaryJo says. “I am grateful every day. I could never thank them enough for the gifts they have given me—a full life, hope, and freedom.”
To honor the couple’s forward-thinking generosity, the hospital welcomed them into The Brigham Legacy Society, which celebrates those who are committed to supporting the future of medicine.
Reflecting on her journey, MaryJo and Stephen are proud of her incredible resilience: not just physically, but in her unwavering determination.
“Our wish is for every person with kidney failure to have access to this level of care,” says MaryJo. “While this cause may be too great for one person to fix, making a bequest is a way Stephen and I can move the future of transplant medicine forward.”
